Electric field sensing is often performed using an antenna and receiver combination. In these systems, the sensitivity is related to both the design of the antenna and the receiver electronics. Obtaining a system that has a high sensitivity over a broad frequency response has proven to be very challenging. In addition, since the antenna size is related to the wavelength of the signal, the electric field detectors are relatively large, especially at lower frequencies. Therefore, compact detectors and arrays are difficult to achieve. Sensor architectures that do not have an antenna, for example, the optical or high impedance based sensors, have not yet demonstrated a sensitivity comparable to that of the antenna based systems.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.